Michael Campanaro may have sat out the season opener against an FCS team last weekend, but that won’t be the case when the Demon Deacons open conference play two days from today.
The wide receiver had a lingering hamstring issue that prompted Jim Grobe to keep him off the field against Presbyterian as a precaution. The head coach confirmed Wednesday, though, that Campanaro will play in the ACC opener against Boston College Friday night.
Not so unexpectedly, Grobe intimated that the decision to keep Campanaro on the sidelines had a lot to do with the level of competition.
“I think Camp could have played last week,” Grobe said. “He had been having problems with his hamstrings since our third scrimmage. He didn’t have a pulled hamstring, but it tightened up and he didn’t practice much leading up to the first game. We just felt it would not be in his best interests or ours for him to play against Presbyterian. He’s full speed again and he should be fine against Boston College.”
In 2012, Campanaro led his team and was third in the ACC in receptions with 79. He accomplished that despite missing a pair of games with a broken hand.
The fifth-year senior needs just 55 receptions this season to break Desmond Clark‘s school record of 216 catches, set from 1995-98. As he’s averaged nearly seven catches a game (6.91) over the past two seasons, and provided he can stay healthy, Campanaro should break that standard at some point before the end of the regular season.